I knew it had been a while since I wrote, but I didn't realize it had been over a month. Geez! I need to crack down on myself. In my defense, life has been mostly uneventful, and blog topics don't just grow on trees. But now Mike's work schedule is changing so we won't have any days off together, and I will find myself with a lot more alone time. Time I can spend pondering what to write.....
So! You know that saying, "Where much is given, much is expected"? I hate that saying. You know why? Because people don't ask to be given much. That's the definition of a 'gift'. It it weren't a gift, you would be taking or borrowing. It would then make much more sense if the saying was, "Where much is taken, much is expected." If you have something taken from you, you could reasonably expect to get something back in a form of payment. But if you are giving things away, you really shouldn't be expecting anything.
In general, I have found expectations to be harmful and useless things. Nine times out of ten, when I expect something, it doesn't happen, or it doesn't happen how I thought it would. This usually leads to disappointment, which is never fun. Why can't people be happy with what already exists, and if something good happens, be all the happier? Why do they have to get their hopes up, only to have them squashed?
I know it is important to have hopes and dreams. Our desire to learn and progress is part of what makes us human. But I draw the line at expectations. I guess you could say hope is a more generalized form of expecting. You hope for the best, but you don't expect it. You hope your kid is smart after you paid for the best private schools, but you don't expect it. You hope you don't get cancer, but you don't expect it when so many people do get it. You hope your small business will be a success, but you don't expect it when the failure rate is so high.
I guess what I am trying to say, it that when you expect things to happen a certain way and they don't, your happiness takes a blow. But if you hope for things to happen the way you want, not as much harm is done if they don't happen. I would say hope is the way to go, instead of expecting. But who am I to say? Try it for yourself.
